Baby Cecilia
by dumblemumble
Summary: Draco Malfoy appears suddenly at Grimmauld Place, the now deserted headquarters of the Order with a baby. Hermione is hiding there too, unknown by Harry and Ron. With a baby in the middle, is it a recipe for disaster?
1. Chapter 1

The clicking of heels could be heard down one of the hallways in the Malfoy Manor. The wearer of these stiletto heels usually graced these hallways with pride and dignity, but tonight she scurried like a worried thief. The only difference was that a thief probably didn't commit such crimes in dragon skinned heels. The wearer of these shoes wore a hooded cloak and hurried to the end of the hall where she entered a room. It was pitch black, save for a small light illuminating from the overhead of a crib in the farthest corner.

The room, in the daytime, was a very barren room, one that held necessities only. No one would have guessed a baby lived in the room if you had taken away the crib. It was a plain beige color and gave no sign of a happy life.

She strode over to the crib as soundless as she possibly could. Meaning she had to creep on her toes, something the thunderous thief had thought she should have done on her way to the nursery.

The baby in the crib blinked open her beautiful dark eyes at the newcomer. She smiled as the woman picked her up, "Aaah-"she began to show her appreciation by sounding.

"Sssh, Cecilia darling, we don't want to make too much noise", the woman silenced the child in her arms lovingly. For the past two months, the thief had become the only mother the infant knew and that is the reason this baby had a chance.

The woman wrapped the baby in a warm blanket and picked up her bag, already packed and ready. She left in the same manner she came, a bit quieter though. She took a different route this time, taking a hidden stairwell up to the roof. The baby was not heard of the entire trip up.

Cecilia Riddle was a well-behaved infant, not crying for anything except feedings, diaper changes and of course, pain. It was usual for only the sounds of her silence to be heard in the manor.

Once in the cold air above, the woman walked to the dark corner east. Once there, a figure emerged from the darkness holding a bag and a nimbus 2000. His trademark hair was shoved underneath a expensive looking cloak.

The woman handed the baby over to the man, his shoulders set rigid and his face impassive. He made himself comfortable with the baby before asking, "You're coming right after this, right?". The woman lifted her head and pulled the edges of her mouth into her award winning smile.

"Yes Draco. You will take the lead and I will come after I take care of something", she lied. Draco did not question this, he just kissed his mother goodbye and mounted his broom.

For all the things Draco had called his mother, he had never called her liar. She had always been upfront about all the issues in his life. Draco blinked again at the striking woman before him before whispering, "Be careful"

Without anything else being said, he kicked off. When he could not be seen any longer, Narcissa Malfoy took her last long breath before pointing her own wand at her chest.

"Avada Kedavra", Narcissa Malfoy breathed for the last time.


	2. Chapter 2

Draco landed softly on the roof of Number 13 Grimmauld Place. It was a very good night for flying and Draco found it suiting the conditions he was under. Flying with a baby was harder than he thought.

Since he had been allowed access to the place he slid into the trapdoor that led him into the dusty attic. Draco didn't usually carry his cousin and so he had a hard time determining whether he was doing it right. Fidgeting with her until he got it right several times was a hassle. It was even more so because he still didn't know if he was doing it correctly after fidgeting.

He slid down another trapdoor onto the landing and got a cobweb stuck that stretched from his elbow to the hair of the cousin in his arms. He flicked it off grimacing at the same time.

"So how do we do this?", he asked no one in particular, definitely not the month old baby in his arms. He looked at her once and tried not to picture her father. He did this for he knew he would start getting angry thoughts. It just didn't seem right to get angered because of a baby. The young Slytherin shrugged this off.

He followed the hallway to find a bedroom.

"This will have to do", he said, laying the baby down on the bed. He wanted to take a shower but he didn't know what to do with the baby. She looked happy enough, playing with her hands.

He thought of conjuring a crib, but then he remembered he couldn't use his wand without the Ministry of Magic finding out, seeing that his birthday was tomorrow. _Fuck!_ Draco cursed in his head.

He finally thought of a brilliant solution. Just like that the light turned on in his head

Zing!

He piled a bunch of pillows on both sides of the bed and placed Cecilia in the middle.

_You are too brilliant_. Draco usually thought of these statements when he was bordering on depression and this was one of those times.

Stepping out of the room, Draco found a bathroom across the hall. He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the water that washed away all the thoughts of Voldemort, Death eaters and most of all, his father. If he had been back at the manor, he would've been putting on his death-eater robes for the first time. Talk about depressing. The thought of being branded stung him hard. _Branded with the dark mark that would forever mark me a murderer _was the line of thought that brought him into the predicament he was in.

Draco had been deciding what to do for the past two days when he had come home from school and his father had told him what was going to happen. Not ask, **tell**. He was left no choice in the matter.

But there was hope when his mother concocted this plan to run to the Order. Something that had indeed cross his mind a few times. This decision was helped by the fact that he knew where the head-quarters was. Dumbledore had given the address to Narcissa and she was then most scared for the life of her son, she would have done anything to keep him from safety.

Draco let these thoughts slip from his mind as he showered. The only thought that stuck in his mind was his cousin Cecilia. He knew his mother was coming later, but even the thought of being alone with that baby for longer than an hour scared him. He only saw her father, Lord Voldemort. The scary man with a reptile like face and a scary ass temper. It was something he knew he shouldn't do, case in point, himself. Everyone deemed him 'Malfoy', a despicable man that did anything to get what he wants whether that was within the rules of the game or not. A name like that could not be lived up to by Draco anymore.

Suddenly a noise was heard outside.

He stopped the shower when he heard the opening of a door. He immediately stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist and grabbing his wand. He slowly opened the door, trying his best not to make a sound.

He saw the door to the other room open as he stepped into the hallway. He didn't know whether he left it open or closed.

"Malfoy?", the voice of a Hermione Granger, standing with her wand outstretched beside him

Hermione sniffled tears back when she stepped out of her house. It was a small house outside of London in a village of Binham that had a small but well-kept garden. She took one last look at the house. The chipped paint on the door and window frames that were meant to be repainted; the white doorbell that gave an off sound every time it was rung; the hose that was snaked in the garden.

An outsider may have seen imperfection, but to Hermione, it was perfect just the way it was. She pulled herself away from the view and apparated to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Ducking into the house, she closed it fast behind her before sliding down the length of the door.

Hermione had to do something she was planning on doing earlier. She had sent her parents to Australia and cleared their memory of her entirely. And the ones of Rose too. At the thought of Rose she started crying. The tears fell for the first time at the thought of her sister.

_The night was dark except for the light in the hallway that her parents kept on at all times to check on their daughters. The lights on the street were dim from Hermione's view. The stars were clouded and the night was cool._

_Hermione woke up with a start at a sound from the next room. Rose's room. In any other time she would have left this and gone back to sleep, but she had goose bumps that rose from nothing in particular. Hermione grabbed her wand on her bedside and walked into the other room slowly. When she walked in, the window had been open right beside her sister's crib. The wind blew in and she rushed to her sister's side._

_There lay Rose Marilyn Granger with her limbs flat and her eyes open and grey. Hermione froze when this sight met her eyes. She reached in to touch her sister when another noise was heard. This time she didn't waste a moment, running into her parents room. Just in time to see a death eater with his wand stepping closer to the bed. He turned when he heard Hermione._

_"Expelliarmus", Hermione said then, "Petrificus Totalus"_

_"Hermione, what's happened?", her father asked waking from his sleep to see the death eater fall._

From that moment, she closed her eyes and tried to forget everything. Her eyes were shut tight, almost as if never wanting to open again. Hermione cried for a solid hour before stopping and opening her eyes. The first look at Grimmauld Place brought her back to the present.

Hermione wanted to go back to the Burrow, but she couldn't face the questions of when, where and why. She thought if she could just find a place to recuperate and get her head cleared before she went back, she'd be fine.

She stood, walking into the kitchen. She sat at the table and thought of her friends. Not that she could really call them that, they didn't even know about Rose. The only magical person that knew about Rose was Crookshanks, but he had been left in the care of Neville, who wanted someone to talk to after his toad Trevor died suddenly. Rose was only a year old. No one knew about her muggle life and their lives at Hogwarts revolved around Voldemort. The thing that ruined her life. Hermione knew that it was all her fault, it was her being magical that killed her sister.

Hermione came to Grimmauld Place because it was the only place she could think of that no one else would be. Since Sirius died, no one's used the headquarters for it belonged to Harry. They didn't want to use it out of the respect they had for Sirius.

If she had gone to the Burrow and told them her story, they would be too sympathetic for her to handle. She had a need to kill every single last death eater out there but she knew that it was anger talking. The anger, she knew, wasn't her common sense and she shouldn't trust it. She got up and got herself a drink of water. When she sipped the water she had in her glass when she heard it.

The starting of a shower on a few floors above her. It was so quiet that the sound echoed through the house.

She gripped her wand in her hand as she climbed the stairs. Every step, the noise got louder. She crept up the last flight of stairs with her wand at the ready. The moment she stepped onto the landing, she saw the door on the right was open and she stepped in to take a closer room at whoever was inside, creaking the door open on her way. She stepped back a bit when the door on the left started to open slowly. Right then, in the midst of all her thoughts she would have never thought this possible.

"Malfoy?", the voice of a Hermione Granger, standing with her wand outstretched. Malfoy swivelled to the right and his towel let loose.

"Oh Merlin", Hermione said diverting her eyes to the floor trying not to blush.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Never would I own this story.**

**THIS IS IMPORTANT PEOPLE—DUMBLEDORE IS NOT DEAD **

**Sorry about the last time, repeating that chapter was stupid and after watching kick ass, coming home and getting on the laptop was hard. I couldn't concentrate properly.**

**Sorry guys, but hey leave a review aye?**

**Enjoy!**

"Malfoy?", the voice of a Hermione Granger, standing with her wand outstretched. Malfoy swivelled to the right and his towel let loose.

"Oh Merlin", Hermione said diverting her eyes to the floor trying not to blush.

Draco picked up the towel with one hand, covering the only part that offended her and kept the other one steady. "What are you doing here Granger?", he asked with the usual sneer on his face, not having the slightest shame in exposing his body. He wanted to laugh at the look on Hermione's face. Must be a virgin, he thought.

"The question is what are you doing here?", Hermione said, having the courage to lift her eyes to meet his. "This house is under the Fidelius charm, how are you here?", Hermione now felt anger boiling within her at the thought of death eaters taking this house as well. The two stood there with their wands at each other, none one flinching.

"Well, obviously, a -", Draco thought again about using the word 'mudblood' , seeing as they were on the same side. Hermione gave him a curious look before he started off again. "You know very well that I can only be here if Dumbledore had told me the secret".

"Why would he do such a thing? Everyone knows you're a death eater", Hermione said.

Draco lifted his left forearm, lifting his towel in the process, again with no shame. Hermione kept her eyes straight, looking in his eyes. She checked his arm and indeed it was just pale skin. Hermione knew many things, one of which is that you can't hide the dark mark with any enchantments. Hermione still didn't buy it.

"You might still be death eater in training, if not anything else", Hermione said. Draco then lowered his arm to cover himself.

Draco didn't know how to convince this girl he wasn't a death eater. "Fine, I understand how you can't trust me", he said, thinking it was smart of her. If it was something his father taught him, it was never to trust anyone other than yourself. "My mother will arrive and she'll show you the letter that Dumbledore sent her", he said. Hermione still doubted him. "Lower your wand", she said.

"Fine", Draco said, lowering his wand in a manner of defeat. Hermione thought this was enough for now.

"So can I get dressed now?", Draco asked, now feeling his arse freezing. Hermione nodded, before summoning Draco's wand. "Wha-", he started but was cut off. "If you _are_ on our side now, you wouldn't mind giving me this", she said before turning around and heading down the stairs.

Hermione sat in the study contemplating what to do. She thought of what Dumbledore would do, of course she knew the answer to that. It would be to trust him and not think of taking his wand away. Hermione had some issues right now that were clouding her judgement. She picked up a book left on the end table and blew the dust off the cover. It was the first time ever that she didn't feel excited when she picked up an old book that probably was a manuscript. She thought again about what she would do. It would be stupid to leave Draco Malfoy alone in the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and not keep watch.

After think over her choices, she decided to stay. Draco could not hurt her, she knew way more spells than him and it would probably be unwise for him. So her decision was made, she would stay and wait for Narcissa Malfoy to come and explain them both.

Hermione thought about this until she fell asleep in the armchair.

_It was a rainy day outside, making it impossible for someone to walk out with a toddler. Hermione gazed into the hazel orbs of her dark-haired sister and apologised. _

_"Sorry Rosey, we won't be able to go to the park today. But that's alright, we can have our own fun right here", Hermione said cheerfully picking her sister up and sitting her on the floor. "Let's play with some blocks"_

_Hermione sat down on the plush carpet next to her sister and passed her a few blocks to play with. She touched her cute tiny fingers counting them before passing her each block. Her sister giggled showing her two teeth that had just grown two weeks ago. They were shiny white and looked beautiful next to her pink gums. She touched her sister's smooth skin at her newly pinched skin, it was from a shot she had gotten a few weeks ago._

_"Mah mah", Rose said before trying to eat a block. Hermione took the block out her mouth and let her pick up another toy._

_Rose then scrunched her face into one of pain. Her hands found her way into her mouth and she was crying now, with tears now streaming down her face. Hermione tried to touch her sister, but she couldn't touch her. Even when the cries got louder, she couldn't touch her sister._

Hermione woke up from the sleep that had her cheeks damp. She wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks, all the while asking herself why the crying had not stopped. She still heard the muffled cries.

Hermione, after coming to her senses realised it was coming from somewhere above on another floor. Hermione thought it was just her brain playing tricks on her, but the noise kept getting louder and louder.

She followed it up the stairs as quickly as she could. Just behind the door that Malfoy was staying in, there was the crying, it was much clearer from where she was standing. She opened the door and there on the other side, on the bed with pillows tucked underneath the sides of the bed, there was a baby. A baby that was wriggling trying to turn but not being able to because of the bed being raised to that angle.

This baby didn't look anything like Rose, she had dark eyes and her hair was longer even though being visibly younger. Her cheeks were red as if someone had pinched her and it remained permanent.

She walked over to the bed and picked the baby up. She didn't stop her relentless crying. Hermione peaked into the baby's diaper and found that she did not need a change and also that baby was a girl. She bounced baby up and down trying to settle her but she didn't. Baby was hungry and Hermione knew there wasn't anything to feed her in so she peeped over the bed and found a bag. She picked the bag up and headed downstairs.

On the way downstairs somehow, she remembered it wasn't a dream and that she did have a stranger's crying baby in her hands. The only conclusion she could come up with was Malfoy. He was the newest person and Hermione knew she had never seen that baby before. Hermione got to the kitchen and pulled a bottle out of the bag. After she'd made the baby's milk, she fed her. Countless thoughts ran through her head at what Malfoy had in mind to do with this baby. Hermione looked into the bag to find socks to put on the baby when she found a blanket unbelievably comfortable. She pulled it out when she found a list of female names embroided in that she didn't recognise but sounded pureblood. The last five names were interesting, they were:

**Walburga **

**Andromeda**

**Bellatrix**

**Narcissa**

**Cecilia**

Hermione knew this lineage and shuddered to think that the baby in her arms was Cecilia. The person at the end of the Black lineage, the most pureblood family name.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Hey peeps. I just started school again and since I have a really important exam at the end of the year, I will just have to update every week. Worry not, I will never abandon Cecilia. She's like my own baby.**

**Sorry about some grammar mistakes people. I've changed some of them. But I swear to you I will read the draft again and again so it doesn't happen again.**

**I would love to have a beta, but of course the story would be even slower coming out.**

The rising of the sun in Grimmauld place wasn't the most beautiful sight. The house was dark unless the sun had found a way in through a dusty window or lit at night. Hermione sat with a stranger's baby near a window in the drawing room. The window was first dusty until Hermione wiped it to see the street that filled with light from the east. Seeing as she was in the west side of the house, the light touched the ground at the end of the buildings shadow. She sat with the shadow until it retreated from the island in the middle of the street.

Hermione fed the baby, burped her and then sat with her. She was a beautiful baby and anyone who'd seen her would agree. Her raven black hair was soft against Hermione's arm. It reached her ears, which was a feat for a baby that looked only two months old. Hermione caressed her as she slept, touching her feet to make sure they were warm then her legs after she did, her torso. Hermione thought she'd never be able to look at a baby again because it reminded her of Rose, but this baby was different and she had no idea why.

But still she was unsure about her parentage, something she knew she couldn't against this little one. It was something she was too curious about. Hermione wrapped the baby tighter in the blanket she pulled out. Right then Draco burst into the room looking worried and unsettled.

He looked about franticly before his eyes settled and then saw baby Cecilia in the arms of a Muggleborn. Something that he knew Cecilia's mother would kill something over. Just a few moments before he was panicking because he knew he couldn't lose a two month year old baby."Why do you have her?", Draco asked wearily, still a bit uncomfortable having a member of the Order carrying his cousin/daughter of the largest known death eater, his aunt Bellatrix/ the daughter of the Dark Lord.

"She was crying", Hermione said quietly, not taking her eyes off Cecilia. "Where are her parents?", Hermione asked, not with the malice she had in her voice yesterday but a soft almost whisper. She lifted her eyes after a moment when Draco didn't answer.

"I don't know", Draco lied smoothly, after the real thought passed his mind, '**Planning the death of your best friend and the rest of England**'. Draco stepped with just two strides across the room and picked Cecilia up off Hermione. Cecilia wailed a long cry for being taken out of the comfortable, soft hands she was just in. Draco tried to hold the baby properly, but due to inexperience, Cecilia's limbs hung loose and he had no idea how to hold all of her properly. Hermione reached out to rectify his positioning but he stepped back.

He didn't know what he was doing, he didn't really have any feelings toward the baby, but he just didn't feel comfortable with his cousin in the hands of Hermione. He had a subconscious fear of letting her being judged, just like he had been his whole life. "What do you mean you don't know? It's a simple question Malfoy", Hermione said in an almost furious voice for being treated like an idiot. She urged forward again to help him with the positioning of his hands, but he stepped away again, this time trying to head for the door. Hermione ran in short spurts trying to reach out for the baby, but he evaded her everytime.

Cecilia was the only one of the three that found this funny, she smiled everytime Draco changed direction.

"What is your problem Malfoy?"

"Get your grimy hands off of her"

"Fine. Just tell me her name"

"Cecilia", Draco said in an exasperated tone from dodging her, "You happy now", they had suddenly stopped their banter and Hermione stood with her hands on her hips. "Look, I just want to help you so you don't drop the baby", Hermione said, raising her hands in a manner of defeat. She stepped forward and pulled the blanket that was hanging, across Cecilia and pulled one of his arms into a higher position and the other one across to touch it.

During this time, Draco kept a look at Hermione and it was the closest he'd ever been to her. He could see the freckles on her nose and smell the smell of Vanilla. It wasn't to over powering that it made him want to sneeze, but then it wasn't too faint he couldn't smell it. Hermione, after correcting his arms, touched the baby's forehead.

"So where are her parents?", Hermione said and instantly he was turned about and off up the stairs. "It's none of your goddamn business", he said disappearing from sight. Hermione sighed.

"I'll be waiting away from view for my mother", Hermione heard from the second landing.

Draco climbed the stairs with his cousin in his hands and walked into the room that he'd deemed Cecilia's. Sitting in the corner beside the window was a crib, one made of chestnut. It had been magically cleaned and there were objects that Draco recognised from Transfiguration class, just in a smaller size. Draco placed Cecilia into her crib and picked a book off the newly cleaned shelf.

'Don't ever look at her like that again Draco', something from inside told him before he opened the new book.

Hermione knew she'd be helping Draco with the baby from now on, but she wondered for exactly how long. Draco and Hermione had agreed to wait for his mother, but she still wondered how long that would be. Hermione saw the bag of clothes that belonged to Cecilia. She walked over to the bag to prepare a bottle for her because she knew she'd be very hungry. Hermione moved toward the bag and started to pull out a load of things that wouldn't look normal to be fit in a bag that small. In her hand caught two envelopes. One was addressed to Narcissa and the other to Draco. The former was opened and tattered whereas the latter was fresh and unopened.

Hermione pulled out the one addressed to Narcissa and read. It was in a neat script that was written by none other than Dumbledore.

_Dearest Narcissa,_

_I have received your request for a place for your son and the baby. I must say that I would be most _

_honoured to provide for them both. Under these circumstances, I would have it no other way. It is a call that I feel I _

_must answer. I assure you that I will protect them to the best of my ability. Do not worry for hope is near._

_Yours faithfully,_

_Albus Dumbledore._

This short note did explain why Draco was here. Hermione still remained cynical, something about Draco was hidden. It was something she had noticed over the years she'd seen him walk the hallways of Hogwarts. It was as if he were the King of it all. Something inside her told her it was alright so Hermione let herself go a bit. But because she was still a bit cynical, she got out a fresh piece of parchment and she dipped her quill into a pot of ink.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

After these three words, she had no idea what to ask. He would question her to why she was in this place and she knew she couldn't tell him the reason. Somehow, to her, the reality had not yet sunk in. She'd cried for her sister for maybe a straight hour, but she still didn't like to think she'd lost her family. After what she had to go through, she still had a bit of a clear mind as to not write Dumbledore.

Hermione set the quill and parchment aside. All she could do now was sit and keep watch. Not just for her sake, but for Cecilia's as well. Draco didn't know how to hold, better yet feed her or change her diaper.

The second envelope stared her straight in the face. She didn't know if it would have those alarms that would inform the person who wrote as to who opened it or if it were a trap. She thought again, it could be some sort of plan the Dark Lord had for Draco and very unwise not to open it. She had made up her mind. She cast four spells in total, checking whether it was cursed, had an alarm or was some sort of howler. All tests came back negative so she opened it slowly. Hermione's breath caught in her throat when she began to read. It was a letter for Draco by his mother.


	5. Chapter 5

**HELLO, MY SWEET LITTLE DARLINGS!**

**Sorry about the almost three month gap. I had two exams during that period of time. Imagine 2 hr papers times the seven subjects that I'm doing. Add the studying hours and the fact that my mother wouldn't let me touch my laptop, you get almost three months.**

**Also, I was suffering from bad writer's block when I got off a week ago. **

**Disclaimer: Do not, will not, and never will own Harry Potter. **

My dearest Draco,

I am sorry, so very sorry. I know that if you are reading this letter, I am already dead, either by your father or my own hand. I lied when I said I would come after you. For this, my son, I will never forgive myself. I knew you would never let me stay if I had said so, that is why I did what I did.

I have more regrets than you can ever imagine. I had thought that my whole life was just a pile of regrets until you came along. I have never loved someone as much as I have you. That is why, one of my biggest regrets is letting you live under your father's horrible roof. Everytime he struck you, everytime he spit on you and everytime he told you you weren't worthy, I felt it a thousand times over. It felt heavy, just as if he had struck right at my heart.

Cecilia deserves a better life, Draco. I trusted this baby into your hands because I knew you would look after her the best of your ability. I know and trust that you will do this. If you are disgusted with my actions, I apologise my son, I thought I was doing it for the best.

I know it would seem selfish to ask, but please, not just for the sake of me, nor for the sake of Cecilia, but yourself. I knew a child Draco, back when before the war started, that would do everything for his father wearing a mask. A mask that he would take off when he talked to his mother, a child that acted innocently and was meant to be pure. Do you know what happened to him? His mask almost became a part of him, it was itching into his skin. Then it began to get permanent like a tattoo, the little boy I knew lost to a Dark Lord with no soul. My little boy will never come back like before, he's seen too much. Please don't hand this little girl, Cecilia, a mask like I did you.

I've given her to you because you know what it's like to be handed a face and be expected to put it on. I've given her to you to protect and raise her like you should have been.

I will love you eternally, Draco.

Your Mother.

The letter was decorated with tears. Every tear, Hermione traced with her hands.

"Ce-ci-li-ah-ah-ah", Hermione sang as she held the three month old baby in her hands. It was unbelievable that the baby in her hands had hair covering her ears. This baby had beautiful soft black hair.

Hermione played with Cecilia's hair while contemplating what to do with the letter. It had been a week since she'd read it and she had no idea what to do with it. All she'd done with it was reseal it and hide it in her truck. Draco had eased up on his not letting Hermione hold Cecilia (something that took a very smelly diapered Cecilia), letting Hermione feed her, bathe her and change her diaper, but that was about it. He had also shut his mouth most of the time, only coming out for meals that Hermione had prepared and left in the oven for him. She knew this because of the empty dishes that were left about. Hermione, in her own house, would have scolded the perpetrator, but in this case, she didn't really want to talk to him.

Since the time Hermione had read the letter for Draco, she couldn't get it out of her mind. She fingered the edges of the fresh, crispy envelope in her hand before tucking it away in her jean pocket. Draco deserved to know that his mother was dead, even if it were in something as painful as a letter from her herself. Hermione had just put Cecilia down and held the bottle in her hand.

After awhile the hand felt light. She glanced at the bottle and sure enough, it was empty.

The bundle of baby was taken into the arms of Hermione and put on her shoulder to burp. Hermione walked around the room, eyes resting on the shelf of books she had cleaned herself. She pulled out her favourite children's tale. It was "Beauty and the Beast", a book she had that was tattered at the ends of the pages. It was used by Hermione, in a time that she didn't know how to respect a book.

She felt like reading this book out to her but was hesitant. She felt her heart being pushed underneath a fat person. It was tight and uncomfortable. All Hermione could do was look at the cover. She put the book back and turned her attention to the baby girl on her shoulder.

"Come, love", she said patting her back softly. Cecilia kept trying to eat Hermione's hair. It was a habit that Hermione had hoped she would drop, for it was very unhealthy. Hermione always kept her hair up and out of the way, but a few tendrils of her wild hair stuck out of the loose, but high bun she shoved her hair into. Hermione paced around a bit more before she finally burped. Hermione put her in her crib and it didn't take her long to fall asleep.

Hermione left for the Black's library. It may not have been as big as the one in Hogwarts, but it kept her thoughts from drifting. She stepped inside, not expecting to see Draco, standing, scanning the shelves for a book. In his hands were a glass ball that filled like smoke inside with the colour yellow. He looked like he threw it into his other hand, but the ball sliced in half and only one half flew, leaving a trail of smoke in it's wake. He then threw the half in his first hand to the other one. He kept doing this absentmindedly. It took him a moment to realise that she had come in.

He turned his head and acknowledged her with a nod of his head. "Where is she?", he asked. Hermione didn't need to ask who he was talking about. It was the only topic they ever spoke about when they did. Hermione replied, "Taking a nap".

Hermione had first thought that it was awkward for her to be there with him, especially alone in a room without Cecilia. But she thought it would be even more awkward if she fled. She headed over to the shelf and scanned the titles for something to read. She reached out to pick out something that looked like a very heavy textbook. Opening it, she saw the different spells used to slowly torture a man. She went to put the book back hastily, very disgusted. In the act of putting it back it dropped it on her foot.

"Ow, ow, ow, ahhhh", Hermione chanted as she felt the pain seep into her foot, she hobbled over to an armchair. She was too preoccupied with her foot to hear Draco snicker as he headed over to where she sat. He watched the petite brunette try and pull off her shoe, failing painfully. Draco didn't think twice about walking towards her, sitting on the coffee table and pulling her foot into his lap. He did it slowly after hearing her wince in pain, from trying to pull it away.

"Stop being such a baby", he said in an authoritative voice. She immediately glared at him. It took alot of effort to do this in this much pain. It was very uncomfortable for her to have her ene-, sorry, _ex-foe_, gently touch her foot. If she weren't in that much pain she might have thought it sweet for him to be helping her out like this.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much", she said this, trying to pull her foot away, but again she winced in pain. Draco slipped off the shoe with as much ease as he could muster. Her tiny foot in his hand had a faint blue colour tinted on. The skin didn't break but it looked fragile. He pulled out a vile that he kept in his pocket at all times. He was saving it for a time when he accidently hurt the baby or when he was on the final battlefield (something he had been dreading about more often lately). He never thought he'd be using it here and now. He flipped the lid off easily.

"Wait, wait...What is that?", Hermione said a bit cautiously, eying the bottle in his hand carefully. It held a clear liquid inside. It looked as normal as water, but Hermione knew better. Any wizard or witch in their right mind would sniff or poke at their food in a stranger's house. It wasn't rude, it was just cautious. Hermione spent enough time in the wizarding world to know that wasn't water.

"Get your panties out of a knot", Draco said, as if saying to a little child, "It's a bottle of phoenix tears"

Hermione blushed but it was not taken into account. Shewas surprised, but also curious to why he was carrying a bottle of phoenix tears around in his pocket. They were very rare to come about and even rarer to get it from the bird itself as it only cried for true grieving. It was one of the most phenomenal discoveries of the wizarding world and Draco Malfoy had a bottle of it in his pocket. Hermione looked at it carefully and examined it as he dropped one and two onto the tinted black part of her foot. Of all the potions she'd studied, only about two were colourless and odourless. They were: the Draught of the Living Dead (something that had to be ingested to work) and a love potion she had read about (something she inwardly laughed about if he tried it on her). She didn't know every potion in the damn book but this looked to fit in one of these two, but obviously they were unfit for a task she knew could be done with other potions, like kill her slowly.

She was still reasoning with herself, not noticing that he had already dabbed the phoenix tears on and was watching it slowly turn to a normal colour.

Malfoy had never touched a girl's foot. In his hand, Hermione's foot felt small and soft. After dabbing the phoenix tears onto the fragile skin that was threatening to break, he watched the colour turn back to it's normal milky colour. Draco then dipped his head down to blow on it. _Wait WHAT? Blow on it. Malfoy's do not blow on it. Draco Malfoy does not blow on anything_ He stopped himself halfway before making an idiot out of himself.

Abruptly, he stood, letting her foot fall in the process. She winced at the unexpectancy of the fall and braced her leg, before two seconds later when the pain stopped. Draco marched out of the room. But before he closed the door behind him, he heard a small 'thank you' escape the only occupant of the room's mouth.

Hermione thought again about Malfoy's exit. It certainly was fast and unexpected. She had bigger things to worry about. That was the letter in her pocket, she withdrew it and wondered what to do with it. She had thought about a plan earlier but then it was had alot of holes. Any way, she decided to try it.

Later that night.

Tonight, she put Cecilia to bed a bit earlier than she normally did. She knew Cecilia would be a bit cranky and cry. Hermione hated the thought of doing this to a child, but she consoled herself with the thought that she was there in case Malfoy screwed up anything.

"Ahhhhh, Waah, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Right on time, Hermione said to herself from her dark room a floor below Cecilia's. Draco was heard rushing across from the hall to her room. He rushed to Cecilia's side and picked her up. Granger tried to keep her feet planted to the ground, chanting to herself _He can do this, he can hold a baby without dropping her_. In her mind she tried to force all the muscles in her body to do as she said.

She only had to wait a few seconds more before she calmly walked up the stairs and into the little room that has come to being know as 'Cecilia's room'. She stepped into the room slowly and was surprised to see Draco standing with Cecilia in his hands. His rocking looked pointless, Hermione knew that Cecilia would not go to sleep until about 7 o'clock, it was barely six.

Draco looked at Hermione from the corner of his eye for Hermione was staring at him full on. It would be super weird for them to be looking at each other straight in the eye without hate or malice. It was sort of like a rule. Hermione stepped forward to hold her.

"Why don't you make her some milk?"

"Why don't you do it?", Draco said, making it a point to sneer at the idiocy of the request, "I'm already doing this"

"I'd do it, but I think I would have more luck getting her back to sleep", she said with arms outstretched.

Draco rocked her for awhile before turning with Cecilia still in his arms. It was as if he had never heard her. Hermione let her arms drop, cursing herself for it wasn't going to plan. She had to improvise and do it fast.

She opened up a part of the bag that was hardly opened for it had the most miscellaneous things, like a baby stroller, an umbrella. Things like that. Now Hermione thrust her hand into the bag marked, "Cecilia's' and brought out a new gallon of formula. It looked a bit impossible, but nothing is impossible in the wizarding world. It was very new and Hermione set it on the ground carefully. Hermione filled a bottle with milk and as she was heating it she pulled out the letter from the top of the gallon.

"Malfoy", she called and as she had his attention, "There's a letter for you"

She tried her best to look surprised and confused to why it was stuck on a gallon of formula. "It was stuck on the new gallon of milk I'd just pulled out", Hermione said as a sort of explanation.

Draco reached over and plucked the letter from her hand slowly. He read the address of the letter and after doing this, he looked at Hermione.

"Here, hold her", he said and as soon as his hands were free of her he left the room opening the letter at the same time.

Hermione hated to know that his mother died before him. She knew how the death of a family member could affect a person. Being the person to give him the letter, was to her like, as if she had told him herself. It was a horrible feeling that she knew would not go away for a long time.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again!**

**Had to study but I really wanted to update this... I think it's because reviews make me happy.**

**Anyhoo, this chapter is sort of a filler. I hate it when there is way too much progress in one chapter and I love it when a story slightly shifts away from the fact that they're about to be a couple and focuses on something really important. It's just for one chapter, sorry if his emoness will continue, i have to stay true to the broken-heartedness he's feeling right now.**

**Enjoy the story!**

Two days. Two whole days had passed. A whole 48 hours had passed since... since the letter was read by the person it was addressed to. A whole two days of quiet. It was a dead sort of silence that one could maybe find at a funeral.. or maybe a graveyard. Even Cecilia sensed this and kept her squeals to a minimum. It was usually a short 'Ahh', not that loud or long. Just short enough to tell Hermione that she wanted something, like a bottle of milk, a certain toy or breast milk, something Hermione blushed about every time Cecilia tugged at her shirt. It might have been almost three months now, but Hermione knew that baby's didn't get the hang of bottled milk as fast as those that didn't have breast milk in the first place. All that Hermione could take from this was Cecilia's mother took care of her before she was put into Hermione's care.

Hermione thought about the boy in the other room and she did indeed feel sorry for him. She may have hated his guts the year before, but back then he had his mother and he was fighting for the dark side. Back then, he didn't know the most trusted site of the Order of the Phoenix. Hermione thought about this as she tucked Cecilia in for the night. She had one of the laziest days ever, not wanting to play with her toys but with Hermione's shirt. Hermione carried her the whole day, only putting Cecilia down to change her.

The young brunette witch closed Cecilia's door behind her as she stepped into the hallway. Beside this room was the sanctuary that Draco had confined himself to for the past 48 hours. 24 hours ago Hermione was scared that he might have killed himself, but she peeked in to his room. When she did this he was sitting in an armchair emotionlessly looking out the window, like he had found out in the letter that his soul had died instead of his mother. She sneaked in as stealthily as she could and guessed he didn't see her place a bowl of soup onto the side table.

Hermione examined the door to his room and it didn't look that different from any other, but she knew this was no ordinary door. It hid the world Draco was living in for the past two days. It sheltered his most evil thoughts and grieving. Everyone handled loss differently, it was a different experience for everyone. Hermione knowing this, stepped closer to the door and rested her hand on the handle. She had no idea what she was going to do when she entered. She was about to lift her hand off the handle when the Gryffindor courage she always had shot through her veins. It was only natural for her to open the door more determined than before, but to do what?.. She didn't even know the answer to that.

The first thing that hit her when she entered the room was the smell. It didn't smell that well-ventilated, it smelt stuffy and dark. She didn't know how you smelt dark, all she knew was that she did. She looked over at Malfoy and much didn't change, his gaze shifted to a spot on the floor. She pitied him; not in an uptight, stuck-up way but in a way any person would anyone in that predicament.

"Malfoy", Hermione called to him, all she saw was the corner of his eye, his platinum blonde hair and his shoulder, none of which responded to the call. The rest of the view was obscured by the armchair he was seated on. Hermione stepped forward and looked to the side table and noticed that the food hadn't been touched. She walked over to the lifeless boy sitting in the puffy armchair. Hermione stepped closer to him and touched his shoulder.

"Malfoy, I-", Hermione could honestly not finish that sentence. The only reason why she was there was- well she didn't entirely know herself. She looked into the lifeless eyes that were Draco Malfoy. They were silver orbs that seemed to be clouded with grief.

Then suddenly, the silver orbs shot up to meet her chocolate ones and Hermione was surprised to say the least at the speed of it. Then somehow, her ears told her that she'd said something to him. It sounded really familiar, then the word escaped her mouth once again.

"Draco"

Then Hermione decided that it felt fine on her mouth. It didn't taste like the acid she was expecting. Hermione edged a bit closer to Draco and took out the piece of bread she kept in her pocket. It wasn't much, but it was something to hold him over with. She stood in front of him with the bread and held it there. He looked away, more specifically, the spot on the floor.

"Eat", was all Hermione could say. She was no where near capable of consoling him. She knew if she even tried thinking about the loss of a family member she's break into a million pieces and there needed to be someone to look after Cecilia. Hermione once again held the bread closer to his face. He turned away as if eating were an altogether nasty experience. Hermione held his chin firmly before turning it straight toward her.

"You will eat", she said this with the thought of no defiance on his part. He narrowed his eyes when they made contact with her muddy brown eyes, his stormy grey eyes that were so passive and clear now turned into the normal storm that Hermione knew she faced all of her Hogwarts days.

"Why? So you can pity me", he said with his throat scratchy from non-speech the past two days, "So you can go ahead and tell Scarhead and Weaslebee that the Slytherin Prince was so depressed that he couldn't even feed himself, huh? Is that what you want?"

Hermione stood there and it took all of the patience she had learnt with the aforementioned Harry and Ron to keep her from tying him to the chair and chewing his food for him. Hermione knew that force would not be the way to get to this mad Draco.

"Or have you already. You already know that my mother's killed, seeing as you like opening other people's mail", Draco said seething with anger now. It oozed from him like pus from a boil. It was not a pretty sight; his cheeks were tinted red, his eyes were stormier than ever and he had taken a most fierce position standing. He was a head taller than Hermione, which, on any other occasion, would have made her feel scared, but which made her try and remember that she had both their wands.

"Or is it just mine you go through?", he asked, his voice rising.

Before continuing, Hermione set a silencing charm on the room, only allowing the sounds of Cecilia and the rest of the house into the room which both of them inhabited at the moment. It was true that she felt guilty. Honestly, truly guilty, but then what was she to do. This was a time of war, if there was no suspicion of the other side then they would be able to infiltrate the Order of the Phoenix. She saw no other way.

"I had no choice", Hermione said, it wasn't as a reason, it wasn't an apology, "You don't tell me anything about why you were here, why a baby was in this house and why you're mother hadn't arrived yet"

"IT'S NONE OF YOU GODDAMN BUSINESS, YOU STUPID M-", After this he stopped, he threw his head around and he winced in pain. Hermione had been expecting the word to fall right out of his mouth, to finish his sentence, but he didn't finish with the word 'mudblood', no, he started wincing in pain._ As if that hadn't stopped him before_ she thought.

After a few seconds, he was crouched over in pain over the bed. Hermione felt unsure of what to do, one moment they were in the middle of a heated argument and the next, his doubling over in pain by his bed, something that Hermione played no part in.

She approached him slowly, but because she was still unsure of what to do, she fled the room. She fled like a mouse from a cat, like she had to get out of that confusing situation. Hermione didn't care about Draco in that very instance.

_How could she have done that? Flee like we hadn't finished our argument.. Arrrggghh! When this migraine passes, I'm going to give that little..thing... a piece of my mind _ Draco thought this in his pain. A pain that was self-inflicted. For a few weeks before, a spell had been cast by Draco Malfoy himself, that stopped him from his excessive use of the word 'mudblood'. Draco Malfoy was then a boy determined to fit in the Order of the Phoenix. Now that his mother was dead he didn't know what to do.

The pain that overcame Draco when his mother died was unbearable. Fighting with Granger was the only time in the last two days that he had forgotten about the pain. The unbearable pain that was felt from losing the only person that loved him and the only person that he loved. It may have seemed as if Malfoy's didn't know what love was, but Draco did, he knew it well and cherished everytime it was expressed toward him. Now that she was gone, it felt like he was alone. Alone in a world that he had been recently thrust into, a world where no one trusted him, one where they all hated him, a world where they blamed him for all the pain caused.

A world called the Good Side.

Draco had already seen this from Hermione. He knew Potter and Weasley would not be that different. They were all the same. It would be because his blonde hair and his great look alike to Lucius Malfoy, one of the most despicable men on the face of the earth. Even though it was called the Good side, they had to play the game like the 'bad side' or if not, they would be crushed in a second. Meaning deceit and suspicion were a necessity to win this war.

Now the pain in Draco's head had vanished and the familiar pain crept back into his chest. He wished for the migraine to come back, for this pain was beyond unbearable. He clutched his chest as the pain threatened to swallow him whole.

He lay still trying to stop the tears forming in his eyes, they were being brushed away briskly by his the back of his hands. He never wanted anything more than to die. _No one would miss him _he thought

_*Scoff*_, goes someone at the back of his head, _why would they?_

Never in her life had she ever been more confused at what to do. Her options were open wide in front of her as she watched Cecilia's breathing with eyes a dark brown.

Hermione looked at this baby and wondered whether she could stomach the thought of leaving this precious little angel with someone as broken as Malfoy, who couldn't even look after himself properly. She reached into the crib and gently eased her thumb out of her mouth. Studies in the muggle world showed that babies that suck on their thumbs are more likely to stay on milk and it was harder to transition into solids when they were introduced.

Hermione thought again of why she was there in the first place. She could easily go back to the Burrow right now and forget that she had ever seen Malfoy and Cecilia. But then she kept looking at the baby. The sweet little child that lay in the crib had rosy cheeks that would make, probably, even Voldemort smile. Hermione looked more at the cute thing laying down.

She could never ever leave Draco alone with this baby. It would be neglect. He was absolutely hopeless with children. Hermione thought right there and then that she would never leave this sweet little angel with that short-tempered, cruel and broken man that was now currently residing in the other room.

Hermione thought to prepare her milk for when Cecilia woke. To do this she stood quietly and left the room, heading down to the kitchen where she had decided to make Cecilia her milk. She took her steps lightly as she always did when Cecilia was sleeping.

Down in the kitchen she prepared the bottle and as she was putting the bottle into a pan of water, something appeared in the corner of her eye.

"I surely hope that isn't for you, Miss Granger"

Hermione whipped her head around so fast she gave herself a whiplash. With the most surprised look on her face, Hermione managed to identify the intruder.

"Professor Dumbledore"

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	7. Chapter 7

**Hello!**

**Again, really sorry about the delay in the story, but I believe to write you have to read and yeah that's what I've been doing. READING! Believe it or not I finished the whole Sookie Stackhouse collection. Yes! 10 whole books in a week (ebooks actually) That's pretty fast for me.**

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"Professor Dumbledore", Hermione repeated. It could have been to identify the person with her brain for her movements were slower. It was a moment of blank. Well, more like a minute. It was the time to process the new information given to her. Hermione blinked a few times at her Hogwarts Headmaster before turning the stove that held Cecilia's milk off.

"It is a most unusual surprise to see you here Miss Granger", Professor Dumbledore said after seeing she had registered his presence. He stepped forward into the light. The light illuminated his silver and blue robes that looked like it could have blinded anyone who had seen it in the daylight.

"I am so sorry, Professor. I did not mean to impose on the Headquarters-"

"By no means are you imposing on anything, dear one", Dumbledore cut her sentence through like a hot knife through butter. Hermione had now blushed pink at this embarrassing predicament. She felt like an intruder. It felt wrong.

Suddenly a wail gave out from the floor above them. Hermione looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Dumbledore simply looked in the direction from which the wail came from and smiled that smile that definitely had a twinkle in his eyes .

"So I see that Mr Malfoy has arrived with the infant", he looked over to Hermione to see her reaction. She simply nodded in affirmation and turned to follow Dumbledore who had taken the lead up the staircase.

He left his beautiful robes to trail after him on his way up the stairs. Hermione eyed it as she came to stop behind him when he halted himself.

"If you could please unlock the door Miss Granger", Dumbledore said, looking straight ahead at where he wanted to go, inside.

Having her sister killed in the middle of the night had scared the living shit out of her so much that she put any amount of spells that made it almost impossible to get into the room if that person were not Draco or Hermione. Hermione twisted the knob (muttering something under her breath on the way) and the opening of the door amplified the sound of the child's wailing. Dumbledore stepped in and headed straight to pick the crying baby out of the crib. After a few seconds in Dumbledore's arms she hushed.

"If you could please", Dumbledore said holding his hand out pointedly for the bottle in Hermione's hand. She gave it to him without qualm.

Once he placed the bottle in her mouth Cecilia sucked onto it gratefully.

"I wasn't sure that Mr. Malfoy would accept my invitation to host them, but seeing them here does bring a smile upon my face", Dumbledore cradled Cecilia like she was his and they had done this countless times before, "I'm sure you have heard news of the death of Narcissa Malfoy"

Yes. Again the guilt weighed on. It wasn't that Hermione was just too horrible a person to feel sadness for the woman, it was that the guilt was the more prominent feeling. It felt like she was sinking with an anchor tied around her waist. It might of helped some of the weight off with her excuses, but then again the guilt still dragged her down.

"Yes, I have", she said in a tiny whisper. She took her seat on the rocking chair she had transfigured. It looked like the weakest piece of furniture at a tea party but it could actually hold two elephants and a circus without squeaking.

"Then I take it Mr. Malfoy has caught wind of this too"

"Yes, he has", Hermione managed to speak a bit louder, "He's not handling the news well", Hermione knew that there was absolutely no fine way to handle the death of a parent, sibling or friend, but the way that Malfoy was handling it was not normal.

"Ah", the ever knowing syllable uttered, "I see"

After the next few hours, Hermione expected to be questioned on her position in the house. It wasn't everyday that you walked into a house that had a Slytherin and a Gryffindor co-habituating in a house peacefully with a baby that they cared for. It just wasn't a usual occurrence. Hermione contemplated telling the truth.

It might hurt, but then again... life's a bitch, a fucking bitch with a cruel sense of humour.

Then she thought again, would she break down like she did after her grandfather had died?

_"STRAAAANGE BREW", Hermione sang out loud in a voice that only was so high it could have only been comprehended by dogs, "KILLING WHAT'S INSIDE OF YOU!"_

_The beautiful rock song itself played from the old jukebox that sat in the corner covered by mountains of dust planned to be ridden of as soon as possible. It had now been 6 months since the death of old Grandfather Harold; 72 years of brilliance. His legacy lay in boxes and under sheets scattered all over the room._

_"SHE'S A WITCH OF TROUBLE ELECTRIC BLUE", cried Hermione's father Kenneth in his also terribly pitched voice. He sang while he cleaned through a few of the boxes._

_Hermione laughed at the fact that neither her nor her father could hold a tune, not even in a bucket, not even in one with a handle. She looked at the dusty attic and picked on another box that held another set of items calling her attention._

_"Cheri", Kenneth Granger called from the corner of the room. Hermione turned to see, not her father sitting there, but her grandfather. Clad in his old professor's jacket with it's elbow patches, sitting with his leg sore with arthritis bent. He had the familiar thing about his mouth. It was permanently twisted into a smirk. _

_Hermione choked. It was stuck in her throat. What was stuck?_

_A sob_

_Followed by a few more._

The next few days were the few she didn't want to remember. The depression that had hit her almost killed her. It took her to a dark place that she never ever wanted to visit again.

"Have you received your Hogwarts letter and stationary list?", Dumbledore asked from the corner yanking Hermione out of her reverie. It was a fair question but Hermione looked like he had asked her how many nipples she had. It was a norm, that was sure. Receiving a letter from Hogwarts, screaming for a few seconds upon realising that there was such a thing as magic and that you happened to be among them who practiced it. It was a far cry from what she was now, running away from the depression she knew was to hit her some day, erasing the memories of her parent and oh, yes, fighting a group of narcissists.

"No.., I haven't yet, Professor"

Back into thought mode. Hermione wondered what would have become of her if she had not gotten that letter. _Things would have been so much more different _she told herself. She probably would watch her sister grow old; she herself would grow old; probably find love; sneak out in the night to meet him; marry him; have a few children; then realise they were never meant to be; then divorce him; then marry again; then grow old in a house filled with grandchildren.

Such a far cry from what was now and to be.

Hermione then turned her attention to Dumbledore, who had burped Cecilia and rocked her to sleep slowly. It occurred to her that he didn't ask her once why she was there. First it bothered Hermione. She tried to think about something else but it hammered the back of her mind like tool man and a nail. It annoyed her to hell.

"Sir", Hermione said after a country of silence, "Why haven't you yet asked me about my being here?"

Dumbledore considered her and answered in his ever knowing voice, "I believe that no one should be questioned for being in the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. It is a place of safety for whoever shall need it, for as long as they need it"

To say that it warmed Hermione's heart would be an understatement. She radiated with warmth at that statement. It was amazing, how so few words could have moved a girl so much. Hermione smiled at the old Headmaster appreciatively before standing to intercept a sleeping Cecilia from him.

The headmaster smiled before turning to leave, "I bid you a good night Miss Granger".

"You as well, sir"

There went one of the best wizards of all time. Hermione looked at Cecilia who was sleeping with her mouth hanging agape. When she lay Cecilia in the crib, she closed her mouth before kissing her forehead.

Hermione left the room as quiet as she could, leaving all thoughts of Dumbledore in that room. Looking at the time, it was still early in the evening. She took off to Sirius' father's study. It was not as big as the library, but had a book she had been meaning to read. It was a first edition of one of William Shakespeare's plays. It was a rare muggle book that was found in the house of a wizard notorious for his hate of muggles.

When she climbed the stairs to the other level, she felt something off about her surroundings. As soon as she reached the door, she was pulled by a hand. A pale hand on her shoulder whirled her around and a pair of chapped lips smacked into Hermione's.

The lips belonged to a fair headed boy that had now trapped her between himself and the door. Hermione instantly got a whiff of the firewhiskey on his breath. It was so prominent, a dog could probably catch it from another county. Hermione's shoulders were rammed into the door and they stung a bit.

Hermione had no idea what to do.

After a few moments of indecision, she began to kiss back. She had no idea how easy it was to ignore the trace of firewhiskey on his tongue, but it happened. There were rumours about Draco floating around school about his skills (not the normal potion-making skills if you know what I mean). Hermione hated to admit it but they were proven true. Even in his most drunkard state (_he would have had to have absolutely all conscious wiped from him to kiss me_ she thought) his mouth could still work some magic.

Hermione found herself gripping his face like it was her lifeline. He started a fire in places she had no idea worked -virgin in all aspects some would say- Hermione found that his hands had worked their way into her top and brushed against her breasts. She made a sound she would have never made if she were conscious. It was a low moan, one that had caused Draco to respond by pulling her top off.

Draco lifted Hermione's legs and as if she had been doing it forever, she wrapped them around his waist. Draco kissed her as fiercely as if it had been his last day on earth. Hermione knew this was wrong, it sounded somewhere at the back of her brain. Before she knew it she was trying to pull away.

He lurched forward for a kiss and as their mouths moved in it's synchronised dance he began to unload his stomach content into Hermione's mouth.

As soon as that happened Hermione's legs found their way to the ground albeit a bit wobbly. Draco fell on his knees and unloaded the rest onto Hermione's feet. He didn't consume anything except the firewhiskey and it showed.

Hermione spit out whatever he shared in her mouth. Hermione had never tasted anything so foul before.

She sunk to her knees and before she knew what she was doing she was rubbing his back as he vomited on her lap without a top. It was on of the strangest process Hermione had ever gone through.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello peeps…**

**I noe I haven't updated in a while, but my hard drive crashed and that went my chapter that I was planning on perfecting. **

**SORRY! I promise a faster update if you tell me what you really think.**

**Come on guys, there were so many people who visited the story and put it on alert, but only 7 left a review. I know some are just putting it on to see when I'm going to crash and burn this thing, but I swear, I'm not if you just help me.**

**With some honest feedback.**

**Chapter 7**

Embarrassment was never easy for Hermione not after she had her period in her best friend's pool, not after she had been disciplined in front of her preschool for pulling another girl's hair and especially not after the drunkard night with Draco Malfoy. As well as most may know about the burning feel of shame. It was nothing compared to what she knew she would feel every time she looked at him.

What Hermione tried to do the previous night would be hilarious for many years to come. She would be ridiculed for ever snogging a boy that was as drunk as a skunk, for being vomited into like she was a toilet and last of all cleaning him up.

"Hello again, my love", Hermione said looking down at her handiwork. It had taken her the whole morning. Yes, meaning she didn't get any sleep from the night before.

Looking down, she saw a carpet; on the carpet lay the centre of her universe of the last week. Cecilia, Cecilia no-last-name, the little girl who managed to laugh at little mundane events. She laughed when Hermione sucked on her bottle to make sure the temperature was right, she laughed when Hermione shoved tendrils of hair behind her ear. Beside the little angel were her toys, all of this was enclosed in this little bubble that you couldn't see unless you touched it. It was a play area that she had set up to put her in while she did her daily work. Hermione had the bugging need to keep her safe when she couldn't hold her; hence the play area.

Picking her up, Hermione moved over to the kitchen where she had set her shopping. She had her groceries delivered to the house. Not hers exactly, nobody could see the house so she had to intercept the delivery boy at the intersection.

"We'll put this load of shopping away and then I'll dose off for a nap, how does that sound?"

Hermione talked to Cecilia constantly lately, it was probably because she was just lonely, a whole week since anyone talked to her without screaming at her. It was a bit excruciating to bear, but she had found a way of letting this out. Hermione sat Cecilia in her high chair before turning to put other things away.

"I swear Cecilia; I will never let you marry a drunk. Even if I have to smack the sense into you sideways, you are never going to do it. The thought of doing that every night…."

Hermione stuffed some cans of peas into a cupboard and almost fell back when a voice answered her.

"The thought of doing what, exactly?"

Hermione felt the red in her cheeks before anything else.

"Nothing of your concern, Malfoy", she tried to hide her cheeks with her loose hair.

"I think it is very much of my concern seeing as you clearly do not like what transpired yesterday"

Hermione was on full alert now. If she had thought that she was blushing, she was turning into a tomato at the rate her skin was changing color. The thoughts of his hands roaming around her body, leaving her breathless with his searing kisses made her want to dig a hole and die in it. It was not supposed to be like this. She was supposed to flinch at his every touch, not move in closer to it. She was very confused right now and she just knew that Malfoy would make fun of her. But what she did not expect was this.

"No one asked you to clean me up"

"Huh?", now this was confusing

"If you had that much of a problem cleaning me up, why'd you do it?"

Finally something clicked in Hermione's brain. She did remember a major cleanup right after he was done puking. He fell right asleep and it felt wrong to put him to bed vomit-soaked. Hermione levitated him into the tub and scrubbed away. After shaving his face, she felt he was decent enough for bed. She was thoroughly embarrassed seeing as she had to reclothe him.

"First of all, I did not mind cleaning you up. Second of all, I was never talking to you and third, most importantly, a 'thank you' would be nice"

Draco had a scary smile on his face with the next thing that left his mouth.

"You didn't mind, huh? Any excuse to unclothe me. I knew you always fancied me, Granger, but I put it past you to unclothe me while I was unconscious. What did you do with me while I was unconscious?"

All Hermione did was stare at him with her mouth agape. Oh how she could hurt him with the shameful things he did last night. Not only did he puke his guts out on her lap (in her mouth too, but she was not going to mention that to a soul), he also pissed on her while she was trying to remove his pants. Yes, right on her hand is where the juice flowed. Hermione thought it was interesting that he peed. Hermione thought of him as a soulless creature that did nothing remotely human.

Draco looked like a man who had just won the lottery; he smiled a creepy smile that brought Hermione to return it.

Before opening her mouth, she looked carefully at that smile. His mother had died, she didn't really know how close they were but she could see that Draco had actually forgotten about her for awhile. Hermione grimaced inwardly thinking that that probably was his genuine smile.

"Whatever you think, Draco. I will let your imagination wonder", Hermione said with cool indifference. She was backing down because she owed it to him.

Draco laughed a hearty laugh at this. He clutched the sink to steady himself from the mirth that overpowered him; he hardly recognized that she had used his first name. It just sounded so natural that it wasn't noticeable.

Hermione had never heard Draco laugh like this, it was either a cruel one from taking away a child's chocolate frog or just an evil one at seeing a kitten die. Hermione had never seen this side of Draco. It was a nice, albeit sudden new side of him. Hermione couldn't let him see her see him like this or he'll shut up as quickly as a clam.

"Haha, I'm sure you're going to love doing that in your spare time", Hermione said, hiding her face because she was sure she was beetroot by now. She had never been this playful ever, she knew it was a defense mechanism that she had never tried before because she was uptight Hermione. She didn't want to be angry Hermione or uptight Hermione right now, she was too tired.

"Instead of laughing like an idiot, why don't you help me unpack", Hermione said standing with more things in her hand. In her mind, the groceries were not going to unpack themselves.

Draco sniffled back a few more laughs before turning to the nearest bag and unpacking things. Hermione wondered why after a minute she couldn't hear him move. She turned to Draco to see a big crease in his forehead.

"Where did you get all of this?", Draco said looking at the yogurt in his hands. It was a funny scene. A man with a dairy product in his hand, asking where it came from.

"I got it delivered. Relax, I would never leave the house with Cecilia and risk getting captured by death eaters. I am not stupid"

Draco relaxed for a bit before picking out a few more items in the bag. His eyes resting on a small packet that he pulled out.

"Granger, what's a _tampon_?". Draco held a packet of it in his hands, reading the label carefully.

Hermione froze to her spot. _Oh my God_. In all that was deemed holy, Hermione could not fathom an explanation.

"Is it something muggle for Cecilia?", Draco asked, pure confusion etched across his face. He tugged at the sides to open it up.

"NO!" Hermione practically screeched running to him and snatching it off him, "Well, not now at least" she told the truth underneath her breath so he wouldn't think she lied, if and when he found out the actual use of it.

"It's for me", Hermione said hastily. It might have sounded rude, but in honesty it was a normal reaction for a girl like her. Hermione tucked it into her pocket before turning back and putting things away. The brunette felt the red finally return to her cheeks.

"Well, what is it's purpose?", Draco said, obviously not letting this go. It was eating him up that he didn't know what a tampon was. He knew most of the normal muggle appliances and food items. He even knew a few books and plays. But never before had the young Slytherin come across a tampon. Not thinking he spilt whatever he thought out.

"Just let it go, Malfoy", Hermione continued to put things away at a higher speed. It was to get out of the room as soon as possible.

"Whatever it is, just tell me Granger. Then, I'll let it go"

"It's not that important, so let it go"

"AHHHH!", Cecilia wanted to make herself known in the room with her loud syllable. Hermione smiled at her before turning back to complete her task.

"Granger, it's for my peace of mind. So PLEASE for the love of Merlin, tell me what a tampon is or I will ask Dumbledore the next time he comes around. I'm sure he'll know what it is"

The muggleborn turned toward him with her eyes as wide as saucepans. "You wouldn't dare?" It was more of a question than anything else. Hermione felt her body feel a little jellylike at the thought of it.

"I understand he came yesterday to check up on us", Draco drawled out each and every word, it was like they were back in Hogwarts and he were torturing her, "I know he'll be back to check again, I'll ask then"

Hermione swallowed her shame and started, "Every month a girl has her…" Trying to get Draco started on the right track and realize what he was asking her to explain.

But for the life of her, he couldn't understand.

"Has bloody Mary crying"

"What does a girl named 'Mary' have to do with all this?"

"NO! When a girl has her aunt Flow come to town", Hermione was a bit desperate to get the information across because she didn't want to use the word 'menstruate' or 'period' in this conversation. It was because Hermione did not want to school Draco on the growing pains of women. It was just too embarrassing.

Draco still did not get it, "Are you speaking in riddles or something? Say something I'll understand"

"When a girl has.." Giving up her hope at leaving this discussion free from embarrassment, "her period"

"You could have just said that Granger", Draco said looking a bit more enlightened, he looked like he was waiting for more information but Hermione had stopped at that.

"What does that have to do with tampons?", Draco asked, not getting the message at all.

"Well, how do you think we cope with the problem? Girls don't go around bleeding into their underwear", Hermione said putting away one of the last items in her bag. She was sure that red was going to be her new permanent skin color.

"So a tampon is put somewhere around the pussy to soak up the blood", Draco finally putting something together in his head. Draco Malfoy did not see the color of his Gryffindor friend's face during this whole conversation, if he had, it would have been priceless.

Draco knew about girls. From what to get them when they got mad, to how to give a foot massage, to how to make them scream his name. He was used to seeing the sexy part of a woman, never the bloody part. It was very new to him this side of a female.

"Something like that", Hermione muttered finally finishing her bag of groceries. She looked and forgot about the one behind her. She cursed silently before deciding to leave it for Draco. Hermione picked Cecilia up and turned to leave when Draco stopped her in her tracks.

"What do you mean 'something like that'? Is it around the pussy or not?", Draco asked, getting mad that his picture of a woman menstruating with a tampon was getting foggier.

Hermione breathed in deeply before starting a seemingly calm statement, "I have answered your first question. I do not appreciate your interest in the female menstruation process, neither your blatant disregard of the sex of the person you are talking to. There are things that men just do not need to know"

The young muggleborn seemed fit to faint with embarrassment. The whole ordeal made her even more tired than before.

"But, I do need to know", Draco said swiftly swiping the packet of tampons out of her pocket and tearing the packet open. All of the little missiles (A/N. That's what I first thought they were) popped out of the packet onto the floor. The blonde boy caught one in the air letting the rest of them fall where they might have.

He looked at it for a second, then clicking. Like a light bulb in his head went off. He smirked at his achievement, he finally found out what tampons were used for AND how they were used. Draco looked up to see a very, very red Hermione.

"So you stick them up your p—", Draco started but was attacked with a cleaning spell. It was shot right at his mouth and it felt like brushes and detergent were going through his mouth. It felt very disgusting indeed.

"**Say that crude word in front of Cecilia one more time and I swear I will pour real detergent down your throat, you hear me**", Hermione shouted at Draco with Cecilia's ears pressed closed.

"I can't stay longer than 5 minutes alone with you without wanting to rip your hair out", Hermione said aloud, not to anyone in particular.

Draco smiled before holding the tampon in his hand closer for observation. He laughed before he took his wand out to clean the mess.

Draco laughed some more before muttering to himself, "Tampons.."

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	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**I am so so so so very sorry for the longest delay**

**I had a major exam that decided whether or not I would get into this school so it was pretty hard core.**

**This isn't one of my favourite chapters, it's sort of like a filler for me. I know my sentences and story line seems a bit choppy and I know I have to improve it.**

**Thank you everyone who reviewed last time, it really got me out of my writer's block**

**Enjoy!**

**ATTENTION: Sorry again for the stuff that was wrong (Cecilia, as I just learnt was NOT sung by the beatles)**

**So sorry to both paula and padfootsgirl79 again, thank u guys for pointing out my wrong, feel free to do it again, see I like when I get a response so I don't look like the biggest arse for posting the wrong information!**

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It was unbelievable how easy it was to care for Cecilia, Hermione thought. For the young witch this didn't seem very right. Hermione thought about the baby as she sat in her room staring at the street and its boredom while drinking some iced tea. Hermione knew that Cecilia was practically a newborn and therefore should be more demanding and fidgety. It was a well known fact that most of them are. Hermione went home for the Christmas holidays in her sixth year just in time for her parents to take a load off from Rose's incessant crying.

Those first days were hell for her; never sleeping and crying and just a whole lot of other things. The young Gryffindor sought the help of sleeping pills to get her rest even though it was short lived and very rare. Rose cried even when she was just changed, just fed and had the right amount of sleep. It was very hectic for Hermione, who had never had a baby in the house back then.

Cecilia was a different story altogether. She slept almost fourteen hours a day and Hermione thought this was concerning at first, but then realized that it was just her way of life. Cecilia always laughed when Hermione was near and the brunette thought this the sweetest thing. Cecilia sometimes had to be awoken to be fed and so Hermione checked her with a few spells she had read on; to check the baby's welfare and happiness. She found that all the tests came back neutral, nothing was wrong with her.

What was she going to do with a baby in the middle of this war? This question usually burnt the back of her brain. Since Cecilia was asleep most of the time, Hermione had to keep her hands busy so she wouldn't think about that question a lot. She had cleaned every single room on Cecilia's floor and the lowest floor. She did this without the use of magic because she had nothing to do and her thoughts weren't helping.

The questions seared her mind every time her mind drifted. What if she went into battle? What would happen if she did? Who would look after Cecilia? What if they did live and the battle was won, could she leave Cecilia? What if it were lost? That thought usually brought tears to her eyes.

Hermione didn't like thinking about these things. So she usually let her thoughts drift to Draco Malfoy; an interesting character, indeed. His reasons for coming to the good side were not seen by Hermione as she sat and thought about him. He seemed fine with his way in Hogwarts, hating all the muggleborns in sight and loving every moment of their torment. Though it seemed pretty ironic if a younger version of Hermione had heard about this.

The young muggleborn thought of her interactions with him lately and blushed at each and every time. Draco had clearly seen Hermione's discomfort talking about things related to sex. Although she hated giving him such power over her, she couldn't help but feel the red of embarrassment flood her face. It was humiliating every single time.

A whole week had passed since the tampon incident and he made sure to make a smart remark about it every time they passed. Hermione thought that this joking Draco was so much better than the gloomy, solemn Draco that refused to eat anything at all. With this in thought, Hermione never blew off the handle at his I'm-a-gift-sent-from-God-for-all-women-to-share attitude. The young woman tried to keep an indifferent face on every single time but failed when the red of embarrassment crept up from her neck to spread over her cheek.

The girl sat looking at her neighbors spend their afternoon's indoors with their windows wide open. The summer had been so uncomfortably hot that Hermione had to sleep in her underwear. Obviously, she locked her door with any amount of spell and enchantments every time she did it. The blush found its place on her face at the thought of being caught doing it.

Right now she had to wear a pair of black shorts that was so short she never wore it unless she knew she was alone. She doned this on with a white tank top. Hermione fanned herself off, keeping herself from taking her fifth shower that day. The young brunette gulped down some more of her iced tea before turning to open the window a bit further.

The sound of a cry broke through the house and Hermione shot up immediately. When the cries started to move from one place to another she could come up with only one explanation.

"MALFOY?" Hermione screamed as she put her drink down and dashed up the stairs, looking about her franticly as she past every door. She screamed his name four more times before catching him dip Cecilia into the water.

Hermione ran forward before he could do something stupid, like let her drown or something. "Did you NOT hear me screaming your name?"

"You weren't screaming it right" said a preoccupied Draco, not looking at her, but thinking of how to put the baby in the tub.

"I beg your pardon?", Hermione asked. The words may have seemed kind, but her tone was vicious.

"If you were screaming it right, you'd be naked and in my arms", Draco said with the smirk in his eye, not looking once at Hermione, but at the water. Once he felt the water was warm enough he turned to look at Hermione.

Big mistake...

**Draco's POV (A dip into the perverted thoughts of a sexually frustrated boy)**

I have never seen something so sexy. Hermione Granger, with her hair pulled into a messy bun squatted next to a tub. She had on the shortest shorts and it revealed her smooth creamy leg. The white skin disappeared beneath the shorts but it left little to the imagination as I glanced at her flat stomach underneath a tight tank - an article that I would like to rip off with my teeth. Cecilia was pressed against her chest hiding her delicious breasts from my view.

The thought of sexy disappeared as soon as her voice reached my ears, "CE-ci-Lia YoU'rE bReAkInG mY HeArT, yOuRe ShAkInG My CoNfIdEnCe DaIlY"

(A/N: The Paul Simon/Simon and Garfunkel song, if it doesn't ring any bells)

It was so playful and the farthest thing from sexy to reach my ears. I grimaced at the awful sound of it. It would have been a compliment if I were to keep nonchalant but it soon did it 's work and Cecilia's cries stopped and soon turned to laughter. Granger stopped her awful singing and continued to carefully peel off Cecilia's shirt.

"Granger, I'm sure there was a note somewhere in that song", I sneered as I reached out for the baby. My eyes far from the little girl that was currently trying to pull out Granger's hair.

Granger just glared at me also keeping the baby from my reach. That angry face made her even sexier.

"Why are you doing this anyway?" Granger asked, annoyed that I was trying to bathe my own cousin, even though, right now, I didn't mind giving **her** a bath. "You shouldn't try to do this yourself; you could slip up and let her fall or something"

"I can bathe a baby, Granger. It's not advanced potions or anything", I said this thinking it was simple as ever. All you had to do was put them in, do your thing and then pull them out. Which is what I'm thinking of doing with little Draco and-

"I do it all the time, why do **you** want to start doing it now?" Granger said, bringing me out of my little daydream of her body under mine.

"Because I am her guardian right now. I will have to learn these things sooner or later. I would rather it sooner", I said after a few moments of trying to grasp witty words together

Granger looked a bit suspicious but masked it quickly and moved closer to me. A smile crept on my face, I knew something was about to fall out of my mouth about her proximity, then something happened. Something bad.

Granger leant forward and dipped Cecilia into the water. With her cleavage on full display, my mouth watered slightly. Her plump breasts had sweat glistening off it. I felt a spark of interest behind my navel.

Cecilia's cries were drowned out by the sight. I watched as they slightly bounced from the sudden shifting of weight. The sight of these magnificent things brought my attention to everything else to a close. I was a movement away from a big problem.

"Are you listening to what I'm saying, Malfoy?" Granger said pulling me out of my little daydream of her doing very unspeakable things to me. I tried to shift my position into one where I hid my almost rising problem, but this increased pressure on it, meaning a harder problem.

"Whah?" I was caught off guard so my answer sounded retarded.

"I said, go waste someone else's time, you're obviously not interested in Cecilia's bath time", Granger shoved me out of the way and the sudden movement made Cecilia start flipping her head and feet around in the water, splashing some water onto Hermione's top.

"Darling, calm down. The idiot with a ferret face was just leaving", Granger didn't glance once at her top and thank Merlin for that. That would have made her look down. That would have made her cover herself up. That would have been bad.

My eyes slightly started to bulge and my problem kept throbbing in me. I swear, I have never wanted and hated something so much at the same time before. Either I was going to maul her like a bear and get spelled back into the stone ages OR I could sneak away and take care of my little problem myself, no matter how disgusting my thoughts of her get.

Both these options weigh the same in my eyes. But in my hand the second one seemed best.

"I need to do other things anyway", I said as I picked up a face towel to cover up my situation down there. Granger didn't give me a second look as I tried to be cool on my way out.

As soon as the door closed behind me I ran into my temporary home for the last two weeks. The room where some of the darkest thoughts of my life have occurred, it looked very clean.

Must of been Granger.

That girl doesn't know what 'no' means. Its like she's understanding nothing that comes out of my mouth. She's so damn stubborn that it's almost unnerving for a pure blood wizard who grew up with the mindset of a stone age wife beater with no respect whatsoever for women. Dang, the wanting just goes on and on and on.

Here goes the nasty thoughts...

Although many may say nothing is perfect, Harry Potter found perfection in the home of Ronald Billius Weasley. It looked to the normal onlooker like a hazardous home with a tweek away from collapsing but anyone with the basic understanding of magic knew it would never happen. Harry sat in the garden and looked at Ginevra Weasley set the table and Mrs. Weasley scold the twins, Fred and George, on their ongoing pranks inside the house.

If only... If only he had been born into **this** family... If only Voldemort didn't kill his parents... If only Tom Riddle wasn't a neglected orphan... If only the world wasn't different.. He wouldn't be planning another attempt to protect the magic world from falling into the hands of the most evil creature he's ever seen in his life... If only is all you can do in times of frustration.

Harry's thoughts then strayed to his missing best friend. He had received a letter from her claiming her absence from the burrow was because her family had decided to move to Australia and she had had to get them settled in their new home. It reassured her return but Harry had a feeling that there was something more to it than she explained.

"Thinking about Hermione too, mate" Ron said, coming from behind Harry. It was common for them both to be saying these things about her since they were missing her fiercely now.

"I think we should go to her", Ron said with a serious look, "She would do that for us". He later explained to avoid sounding too caring.

"I think so too", said the boy who lived quietly.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry, I know I say that alot, but anyhoo, relocation to another country's a big step man

Here's Draco and Hermione

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A few weeks earlier...

Alaster Moody didn't like children very much. It should have been one of the first hints to whomever was watching him in the year of the Triwizarding Tournament, when he was being impostered by Barty Crouch Jnr., that he would never have volunteered to teach in the first place, no matter how close a friend he was to the infamous Albus Dumbledore . It wasn't because of his constant irritation due to their stupid decisions, it was because of the invisible sign hanging over their head saying '**FRAGILE**'. It was viewed 'not right' in a society if you shot a curse at a child for soiling your best pillow. Well bless his heart if he didn't know that.

This was why when Albus Dumbledore asked him to keep a baby safe Moody declined the mission no matter how sensitive it was thought to be. Moody was then blackmailed by

Dumbledore of all people, but then he said the mission already had a member. Very much his luck he says.

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H and R,

Like I said before, there is absolutely no need for you to come to me. I

have everything completely under control and I will see you at the

beginning of the school term.

Please don't make me beg. I'm sure Mrs. W wouldn't be too

keen to let you both come to me unsupervised, especially

since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is now known to be out

and ready to attack.

I find the country side has a very soothing effect on you if you

aren't bothered by your best friends.

I hope to return to two healthy friends.

Always yours,

H.J.G

_(proud owner of an otter patronus)_

The last part of the letter was hidden in an ink that could only be read by Harry's spectacles. It was a protocol they had agreed on to make sure that no one was forging the letters. Stating a personal fact after the letter in an ink that could be read by the three pairs of spectacles Hermione had charmed. Harry always had his on while both Hermione and Ron kept theirs safely hidden away. Hermione kept hers on while writing the letter.

"Dear Merlin, Granger, I didn't think you could look more like a bookworm, but I was again proven wrong", Draco Malfoy stated as he strode into the room with a napkin thrown over his shoulder and a rattle in his hand. Never in her whole life had she ever thought she would see something so wrong. The thought of Malfoy looking after a baby would be like the thought of Voldemort getting married. It was funny, in a way.

"What do you want?", Hermione asked trying to get straight to the point because she knew, she just _knew_ that if she didn't he'd get to annoy her and that would lead to another fight and one of them would end up at St. Mungos.

"Seriously Granger, you should consider getting some make up on that thing you call a face, it's very distracting", Malfoy said as he walked in and swooped Cecilia up off her rocker. Her heart flew into her mouth as he tried to bounce her up and down to keep her from crying. As it was looking, her face scrunching up into one of dislike, it was going to happen soon.

But Hermione gripped the edges of her plush chair trying not to get up. With the three weeks that they have been together she made a deal with Malfoy, a very simple one really. It ensured that Hermione could look after the baby, feed her, clothe her, play with her, but she couldn't be overprotective because it was 'Draco who was the real guardian of this baby'.

Trying to ignore his remarks have proven fruitless for Hermione the past weeks. Just three weeks. It had only been three weeks and she wanted to tie a noose around his neck and let him hang down from the top landing.

Before anything could happen more could happen, he stepped with the baby toward her to read whatever she was doing. She folded the piece of parchment with her and slipped it into the desk she was sitting on.

"So whatcha doin'?", he asked in a high pitched tone that made her grit her teeth in response. "Just wearing Potter's glasses for fun, now are we?"

Hermione stood and left without a look back because she knew she would hex him and she gave him his wand back, so it would turn out so ugly if she turned back. She kept her back stiff as she walked out of the room.

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Dear Miss Granger,

It would seem now that things have worked out for the better.

seeing as you are already at the Headquarters, it saved me from

collecting on a debt from an old friend. I hope everything is to your

satisfaction.

I ask you a favour, Miss Granger, and that is to preside over the

headquarters and the occupants of it. I will see to it that your living arrangements

are adequate and your food supply is sufficient.

I hope to hear you and your household are well.

With Regards,

Albus Dumbledore

With this letter, it pretty much meant to look after them both. Hermione thought about this letter again as she held little Miss Darky in her arms. Cecilia smiled, her beautiful toothless smile at Hermione and it was lovely. Hermione made a promise a few weeks back that she would never leave this child alone.

"Oi" Draco said, puffing out just a bit from climbing all those stairs "I'm going to the pub, don't wait up"

"What?" Hermione asked, completely baffled, because this was out of the blue, "What pub?"

"A pub, Granger, that's all you need to know" Draco said, already with his fine silk cloak on and his hair loosely arranged. The blonde Malfoy turned to leave but was stopped with yet another question "Malfoy, don't be silly, you can't go to any pub. You-know-who is out there looking for you, you have one of the highest ransoms to date"

Now that Malfoy was known as missing, there was a plea from Draco's parents, offering a reward for anyone who'd seen him or had any information on him, it came with a heart-felt passage on the loss of the only Malfoy heir but Draco knew better, that it was Voldemort putting a bounty on his head.

"That's what the polyjuice potion's for Granger" he said with a condescending tone, as if she were implying that he were stupid enough to go out there with a face worth 25,000 pounds. "Honestly Granger, I thought you were supposed to be the brightest witch of our age"

Hermione huffed indignantly at the accusation, "That potion doesn't hold up to many of the new charms and wards put up around private businesses. It's not safe outside of this house, Malfoy"

"Your worry is touching" he said touching his heart "But unnecessary"

She snorted before putting Cecilia down in her crib "I'm only worried that when you are eventually pulled back into the Dark Side, they'll force you to tell them where we are and then, we'll be screwed. Majorly"

"Well, what do you expect me to do?" he asked the girl in front of him "I'm going crazy cooped up in this place"

"Read a book" she suggested

"I'm going, I'll see you later", with that he left an uncertain Hermione, who didn't, for the life of her, know what to do. After thinking through it, she finally thought to execute it.

Running down the stairs as fast as she could, she was stopped at the last floor, just as she was about to call the boy in thought's name, she saw another two, whom she'd thought about not that often now.

"Harry, Ron. What are you guys doing here?" she asked as if they were in the wrong classroom, when in fact it was she.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey peeps! I've taken the longest break and that's because I was really uninspired.. so I decided to jump back on and start reading. "I'll Walk You Home" by 'justthisguyyouknow' is a great read everybody, it helped me alot with this chapter...**

**Read it, if you are into Avatar: The Last Airbender the cartoon (the movie SUCKED!) or not. It's really a fic anyone could read and get into! XD!**

**Anyway, everybody, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last time Ms. Mimi Elphie-Amy, cazares.a, paula, HelioApple., Dramione-Fan 17 , KraZiiePyrozHavemoreFun , bluestriker666 , Justthisguyyouknow , CheshireCat23, KangaXX, **

**Also a thank you, to Katiebear95 and CheshireCat23 for correcting me on Hedwig's gender. Earlier on, I had written Hagrid and I don't know why (my brain works in mysterious ways) and yeah, I had corrected the name, not the pronouns. I'm sorry for that... stupid caffine-operated brain. **

**ALSO for pointing me out on the switching narratives, my English teacher gets me on that every time. It's great to see some feedback like that (THANK YOU!) I swear I would have left it like that if no one had corrected me.**

**On with the story that I don't own... *sigh**

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**Chapter 11**

"Are you sure this is where the letter came from?" Ron asked his best friend as they stood in front of the houses 11 and 13 and they casually moved aside to reveal number 12.

"Yeah, I'm sure that Hedwig is sitting on that windowsill. Look at her" Harry said pointing at the snow white owl. "I'm sure she wouldn't have gotten it wrong, I mean it's pretty unlikely, but maybe she came back earlier than she said to get ready for the new year"

"Not likely, mate. This is Hermione we're talking about, she tells us everything, I'm sure Hedwig must have gotten it mixed up" Ron said looking at the house ahead of him.

They stood like that underneath the Invisibility Cloak for a long time, before one of them (the impatient redhead) pointed out "It's no harm checking, right? I mean if she's not here, than we'll just see how things are running, if they're still running"

Ron knew how long since this beautiful townhouse had been last used. He also knew that if it would bring up a few memories of Sirius, it wouldn't be sad, if anything it would be happy and reminiscent. They made their way to the doorstep and as they stepped over the threshold, they were a bit taken aback. Instead of the cobweb mess they expected to find, there was nothing. Of course there was the furniture that was there before, but it looked cleaned and lived in.

Without some of the screaming portraits (Walburga was burnt on the day she called Hermione a mudblood after Sirius's funeral) and without more of the dark schemes, it looked like one of the rest of the houses you looked into around the neighbourhood.

Just as they entered, they heard a thumping sound and it was drawing nearer. Thump, thump, thump, thump, "Harry, Ron, what are you guys doing here?"

Hermione stood there looking like they wandered into the ladies room at a men's bar. She drew towards them with her arms outstretched and she first pulled Harry into a hug. "Wow, you've grown a few, haven't you?" she asks her obviously shorter friend and she moved to the next.

"I've missed you guys sooo much, I've got heaps of things to tell you" she started, obviously working extra, super hard not to be anything different than what she was. She knew the question was coming, so she hoped she could babble on incessantly until she got her story straight.

"Australia was amazing, they've got kangaroos, koalas, crocodiles, but I didn't get to see the magical community, some of the locals do know about them-" she went on with the facts she'd read about in books and she couldn't believe that she was doing this. She was trying to keep them busy as she pieced together the evidence in her head. She walked towards the kitchen with the intention of trying to get them to forget she lied in the letter.

"We were in the deep country so even though we didn't understand anything they said, they were super friendly. Mum and Dad were ecstatic the moment we arrived at the airport" she continued on as they trailed on behind her.

"What's an ehh-pooht?" Ron asked mispronouncing a muggle word as usual. Harry didn't seem so easily distracted.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked out straight. She instantly felt like the intruder she was "Your letter said you wouldn't be coming back till the beginning of the term"

Ron looked like he'd been led off like a little child, he too snapped back to the topic they'd both been thinking about.

"Well, I came back early for personal reasons" she said, sort of stupidly she thought as the words left her mouth. She tried to look like she didn't just think that.

"Personal reasons?" Ron snorted at the idea. "Hermione, you're lying through your teeth, you have no personal reason to be here other than Harry, since this is_ his_ house."

"But since he doesn't know about it come on, tell us the truth"

Hermione wanted to slap him for making her feel like a home invader. She didn't crack at him verbally like she usually did, she did something she had never done before.

Walk away from him.

It was harder than it looked because Hermione never walked away from a challenge, but in a way, it could've been seen as growth. Right?

She stomped her way up the stairs and the boys trailed her, Harry tried to apologize while Ron tried to justify his wording. "Hermione, why are you running off? We haven't finished talking to you yet"

Harry tried to make amends for his best friend, "I don't care that you're here Hermione. This is the Headquarters for crying out loud. I just want to know why you're here, that's all"

She thought this seemed to ease her guilt of being in this house uninvited.

So she stopped on one of the landings, jut the one below Cecilia's. "I'm here for personal reasons, can't you guy just leave it at that?" she hoped to Merlin that they would.

"No, we can't. **We **are your personal life here, we're your friends, we know everything about you. What are you going off about 'personal reasons'?"

"You know Ron, I don't ask for much being friends with the two of you. Not much at all, in fact. So just do this one thing for me and let this go!" she said almost pleading, the key word being almost, it was 10% pleading and about 90% 'Don't fuck with me'.

Ron was used to getting these looks but Harry wasn't in the slightest, he moved to stay where he was but his red haired friend had other ideas and followed her up the stairs. "Hermione, we just want to know why you didn't tell us. You owe us that much at least, I mean, we're your friends you can tell us anything, we know you-"

"Well, Ron for the past six years we've been friends, can you tell me when my birthday is?" she asked stopping to face him, so angry she could strap a belt around his neck and not be hesitant in leaving him literally breathless.

"I can't because you never tell us.." he started but was cut off.

"What are my parent's names?" she asked and this was when Harry stepped onto their level. "Well, that's easy, Mr and Mrs. Granger" Ron said, even when Harry signalled to him to stop.

"Their first names, Ronald" she whispered dangerously. He chose to respond with:

"Well, if we're playing the 'How well do I know my friend game?'. Tell me when was I knocked unconscious the longest"

"The Weasley's were having a game of Quidditch when you were 6 and Charlie hit a bludger your way even though you weren't playing. You were unconscious for 4 days. You can stop with this ridiculous game"

"You started it" he bellowed back because the fight escalated to this level.

"I was proving a point, I am a good friend, you are a horrible one. I don't want to enlighten you about my situation because you just asked. We may have a good friendship but you don't know me and carelessly egging on things I don't want to talk about is not helping you GET TO KNOW ME!"

She totally forgot about the baby on the floor above her, she hoped to Merlin that Cecilia didn't hear them. Harry had spoke up "We are sorry, we didn't mean to pry. We'll leave it alone, what we meant to say was "We are happy you're alright and that Australia didn't keep you long"

Hermione smiled briefly before leading them down the stairs again. Crisis averted, thank Merlin!

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Draco scanned the empty bar and ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair. His transformed face was good enough, he guessed. He had dark eyes and sandy hair that was just as full as his real hair. He scanned the bar and found two targets. One sat with her legs crossed and a book in her hands (in a bar of all places?) by herself and the other was in the middle of a group of girls. These two stuck out because of their striking looks. Nothing drew a man to a woman so easily. He was really just turned 17 and these women were well into their twenties, but he looked much older, probably about the same age as them; he had a chance, that was for sure.

He really just came to the bar to clear his head of that Granger nonsense. He was going bat shit crazy and he wasn't going to do it while she was there watching him fall apart. A drink was all he needed to clear his mind.

Walking up to the bar, he could feel the eyes of the group of women he had his eye on. He slid up and was about to order a firewhiskey, when he realised he was in a muggle bar "Scotch on the rocks, thanks" he nodded to the bartender.

The bartender's bulbus nose sat gingerly on a moustache probably fighting for dominance on his face. Draco briefly wondered how ugly his parents must have been before turning away and looking at the telly.

His drink sat before him on a coaster for a real estate company "Lawsons Realty". He took a swig of his drink before settling his eyes on a crickett game on the telly. He watched not really noticing anything out of the ordinary when something out of the corner of his eye moved.

Draco looked and was shocked to see Ted Tonks, husband of his aunt Andromeda sit beside him. He sat the stillest he had ever did, trying not to look out of the ordinary.

"So, how many wicketts we down?" he said addressing me.

The fair headed boy looked at him to be sure he was speaking to him "I wouldn't be too sure, I'm not a fan"

"By golly this is England, my boy. So what sport does take your fancy then?" he asked, with shock written all over his face. The Malfoy heir knew of a bit of football and said so.

"For some its one or the other but I've got to admit, I'm more of a football fan myself. Good to meet you, the name's Ted Tonks" he said extending his hand. Draco grasped it and lied "ClarkThomas"

"What brings you here at such an hour? You look like you ought to be with your family" The teenager felt his chest tightening up at how true that was. _My_ _family_ ? He never talked to any of them but did living in a house together constitute you as a family. Draco knew that wasn't true, but it didn't help the tightening in his chest.

"I could say the same to you" The boy shot back sipping my drink some more.

"'Dromeda knows that I want to watch the game. Besides, I just found out my daughters pregnant, I had to get out of the house" Draco thought that it was _interesting _that her cousin had fallen pregnant to a werewolf. He wondered if it would come out half puppy.

"I would say 'Congratulations', but it doesn't seem right to say" The pureblood scanned his uncle, looking for the cause of his distress.

"I'm happy for her, but it just seems like yesterday I was holding her in my hands at the hospital, you know" he said, sipping his beer. "My little bundle of joy I'd call her"

He sighed long fully and set his bottle down slowly.

"What really kills me is that I didn't want a child at first, I never fully embraced fatherhood until she grew onto me" he looked Draco right in the eye "It's not like motherhood.. Ho, ho, ho... It's instantaneous when they put the baby in their arms, it's like it was meant to be"

"But for me it took a long time and now that I'm willing to have my girl with me for another 5 or so years, I've lost her already"

"You haven't lost her" Draco said, wondering why there was something tugging his heart and WHY he was talking to his uncle about problems he'd never think to encounter "You'll never lose her"

Ted smiled and paid for his beer, looking unconvinced. "I bloody hope so"

With that he left leaving Draco with a whole bunch of feelings he couldn't describe.

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**Switch to First Person **

_The air didn't seem to be enough, every single time I breathed in, it wasn't enough. Why wasn't it enough? The cold English air hit me from all directions. "Andromeda!" I called for my sister but no one was there. I distinctively remember the crispness of the air that night, it was cold and I usually thought it uninviting, but not tonight, not anymore for the rest of my life._

_"Andromeda!" I called again, trying not to attract any attention but the one of my sister. That's if she was even here. I looked at the untended earth and treasured that sight, the feel of the patches of soil and grass. I tried to catch my breath and appreciate the beauty of everything around me at the same time. I knew that this would be one of the last times I would ever see nature, if things worked out bad or good. _

_I waited a few more seconds, then I heard a rustling from a bush, I held my wand out at the ready. I was so worked up and carrying Malfoy's heir wasn't helping. A few more breaths later nothing could be heard of again. I placed her hand over her bulging belly and whispered my reassurances. _

_Before I could scream, a hand was placed over my mouth and my arm was twisted to the back of me that shot up pain from wherever this searing pain came from. _

_"Do you KNOW what you've almost done?"Lucius' hot breath hit me right in the ear as he hissed it out. "The Dark Lord would've killed us BOTH, had what you've almost done been discovered"_

_"Or the three of us, as it seems now" he said in a frightened voice. I had never cried so hard and as the tears fell one after the other, I couldn't muffle my sorrows in front of this man. _

_"Stop crying now, or I'll abort this baby faster than you disappeared" he said and just like that, I had clamped up. "Good girl" he said, apparating me back towards the Manor._

_After walking a few minutes I asked "How'd you do it?" _

_"Do what, the love of my life?" he said not at all hearing the words he had just said because it was cold. He had a hand tight on two wands and the other on my side so I was encased between his arms and body quite rigidly._

_"Find me" I whispered as we could now see the manor as the sun rose quite slowly. _

_He picked up my ring hand and shoved my wedding band on "To death and beyond we are united, Narcissa. Whether or not you are wearing your wedding ring"_

_That was the last time I had ever cried in my life._

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**REVIEWS ARE ALSO INSPIRATION GUYS!**


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